In recent years, with the progress of digitization of television broadcast, communications circuits have increased in capacity. Furthermore, broadcasting technology and communications technology have united, and various devices provided with both broadcasting and communications functions have been developed. A typical example of such devices is a television receiver provided with a WWW (World Wide Web) browser function.
Conventionally, the following technology has been known with regard to the television receiver provided with the WWW browser function. FIG. 12 is a block diagram illustrating the structure of a conventional television broadcasting device and a conventional television receiver. In FIG. 12, a multiplexing section 19 of the television broadcasting device 8 multiplexes a URL display instruction 119 and a URL (Uniform Resource Locator) 112 onto an inputted television signal 101. A transmitting section 12 transmits, to a television receiver 9, the television signal outputted from the multiplexing section 19.
A television screen generating section 20 of the television receiver 9 receives the television signal transmitted from the television broadcasting device 8, and generates a television screen based thereon. Furthermore, the television screen generating section 20 applies a filtering process to the received television signal, and outputs a control stream obtained by this process to a control microcomputer (hereinafter referred to as a microcomputer for short) 59. Such processes performed in the television screen generating section 20 are widely known as an indispensable process for a digital television receiver.
A URL display instruction obtaining section 79 extracts, from the control stream outputted from the television screen generating section 20, the URL display instruction 119 multiplexed in the television broadcasting device 8. Similarly, a URL obtaining section 72 extracts, from the control stream, the URL 112 multiplexed in the television broadcasting device 8.
The microcomputer 59 performs various control processes in the television receiver 9. When the URL display instruction 119 is received from the URL display instruction obtaining section 79, the microcomputer 59 performs on-screen display control (hereinafter referred to as OSD control for short) for displaying the URL 112 obtained by the URL obtaining section 72 on a screen. If a user uses a remote controller 80 to activate a browser when the URL is being displayed on the screen, the microcomputer 59 starts a WWW browser process. More specifically, as a first step, the microcomputer 59 receives, from a server 3 connected to the Internet 4, a content 102 corresponding to the URL 112 obtained by the URL obtaining section 72 by controlling a modem 90 for performing a communications protocol process. Then, as a second step, the microcomputer 59 generates a browser screen based on the received content.
A screen combining section 39 obtains a screen to be displayed on a monitor 40, based on the television screen generated by the television screen generating section 20 and the browser screen generated as a result of the WWW browser process performed by the microcomputer 59. The screen combining section 39 selects either the television screen or the browser screen for output in accordance with a control by the microcomputer 59. Alternatively, the screen combining section 39 uses a fixed scaling section 38 for fixedly reducing the size of the browser screen in order to obtain a display screen including both the television screen and the browser screen. In both cases, processes performed by the screen combining section 39 are fixedly determined in the television receiver 9.
Hereinafter, a method for providing an advertisement to the television receiver 9 and an operation of the television receiver 9 are described by taking, as an example, a case where a commercial message for a product a which is manufactured and distributed by a company A is broadcast. It is assumed that the company A administers the server 3 connected to the Internet 4, and that the content 102 introducing the product a has been stored in the server 3. A television program producer desires a user (viewer) of the television receiver 9 to access the content 102 when the commercial message for the product a is broadcast. Therefore, the television broadcasting device 8 multiplexes the URL display instruction 119 and the URL 112 of the content 102 onto the inputted television signal 101 for transmission.
FIG. 13 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of the microcomputer 59 at the time of receipt of the television broadcast. It is assumed that a television program is displayed on the monitor 40 of the television receiver 9 in the initial state before the commercial message is received. When the television broadcast changes into the commercial message for the product a, the television broadcasting device 8 multiplexes the URL display instruction 119 and the URL 112 of the content 102 onto the inputted television signal 101 for transmission. With reference to FIG. 13, described below is an operation of the microcomputer 59 after the television receiver 9 receives the television signal onto which these two types of data have been multiplexed.
First, the microcomputer 59 obtains the URL display instruction 119 and the URL 112 from the URL display instruction obtaining section 79 and the URL obtaining section 72, respectively (step S901). Next, the microcomputer 59 performs OSD control in order to display the obtained URL 112 on the screen (step S902). Hereupon, the obtained URL 112 is displayed on the monitor 40 in a combined form with the television screen, thereby enabling the viewer to recognize the presence of the content 102 related to the product a. If the viewer becomes interested in the product a, he/she uses the remote controller 80 for inputting a browser activate command into the television receiver 9. On the other hand, if the viewer does not become interested in the product a, he/she uses the remote controller 80 for inputting a URL clear command into the television receiver 9. After checking an input from the remote controller 80, the microcomputer 59 proceeds to step S904 if the browser activate command is inputted, or proceeds to step S908 if the URL clear command is inputted (step S903).
If the browser activate command is inputted, the microcomputer 59 receives, from the server 3 connected to the Internet 4, the content 102 corresponding to the obtained URL 112 (step S904). Then, the microcomputer 59 instructs the screen combining section 39 to do a full-screen display in order to display the received content in a full-screen on the monitor 40 (step S905). Next, the microcomputer 59 generates the browser screen based on the received content (step S906). The browser screen generated by the microcomputer 59 is provided to the screen combining section 39, and memorized in a display plane (not shown) managed by the screen combining section 39. Having received, at step S905, the instruction to do the full-screen display, the screen combining section 39 outputs the browser screen provided from the microcomputer 59 as it is. Thus, the browser screen is displayed in a full-screen on the monitor 40.
Next, the microcomputer 59 performs the WWW browser process (step S907). While control of the microcomputer 59 is at step S907, the viewer is allowed to use the television receiver 9 as a WWW browser. If a browser end command is inputted while performing the WWW browser process, the microcomputer 59 ends the WWW browser process, and thereby ends the process for the URL display instruction 119.
Furthermore, if the URL clear command is inputted at step S903, the microcomputer 59 performs OSD control in order to clear the displayed URL. In this case, the microcomputer 59 ends the process for the obtained URL display instruction 119 without performing the WWW browser process.
However, the above-described conventional television receiver has the following problems. First, a display style of the browser screen is fixedly determined in the television receiver, which makes it impossible for the conventional television receiver to display the browser screen in accordance with the display style designated by a sender of the television broadcast. Furthermore, the WWW browser is activated based on the command inputted by the viewer, thereby preventing the conventional television receiver from displaying the browser screen in synchronization with the television broadcast. Still further, a display style of the browser screen is fixedly determined in the television receiver, whereby a main part of the television screen may be defaced by the browser screen in the conventional television receiver. For example, an advertised item may be hidden under the browser screen when the commercial message is broadcast.
Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a television receiver and a method for providing information thereto, which can solve the above-described problems of the conventional television receiving device.